Introducing Pixi sandboxes

September 28, 2026·AnnouncementEngineering·[](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Introducing%20Pixi%20sandboxes&url=https://marimo.io/blog/pixi-sandboxes&via=marimo%5Fio)[](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://marimo.io/blog/pixi-sandboxes)

Introducing Pixi sandboxes

Trevor Manz@trevmanz

marimo’s notebook sandboxes now support Pixi. You can build and share standalone notebooks with requirements from both Conda and PyPI recorded alongside the code.

For example, this notebook uses marimo’s reactivity to drive GPU-accelerated transcription with Whisper:

pixi\_whisper.py

Script metadata

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12,<3.13"
dependencies = ["marimo>=0.25.0", "openai-whisper>=20250625"]
#
[tool.pixi.workspace]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
#
[tool.pixi.dependencies]
ffmpeg = "*"
pytorch-gpu = "*"
///

import whisper
 
model = whisper.load_model("tiny.en", device="cuda")

import marimo as mo
 
files = mo.ui.dropdown(
    {
        "The Ashiel Mystery": "https://librosa.org/data/audio/5703-47212-0000.ogg",
        "The Age of Chivalry": "https://librosa.org/data/audio/3436-172162-0000.ogg",
        "Sense and Sensibility": "https://librosa.org/data/audio/198-209-0000.ogg",
    },
    value="The Ashiel Mystery",
    label="Recording:",
)
files

Recording:

audio = whisper.load_audio(files.value)
mo.audio(audio, rate=16000)

result = model.transcribe(audio, language="en", fp16=True)
result["text"]

Loading example…

When you choose a recording, marimo reruns Whisper to transcribe it. Whisper needs FFmpeg to decode the audio and PyTorch to run the model, so the notebook declares ffmpeg and pytorch-gpufor Pixi to install.

Since these requirements are recorded in the notebook, anyone with Pixi installed can open it in marimo’s interactive editor to edit the code and interact with its outputs:

pixi exec marimo edit --sandbox=pixi https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marimo-team/marimo/main/examples/misc/pixi_whisper.py

Or execute the notebook as a Python script from the terminal, without opening the editor:

pixi run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marimo-team/marimo/main/examples/misc/pixi_whisper.py

We built this integration with the Pixi team, improving marimo’s sandbox experience along the way for everyone—including uv users.

Notebook environments

The Pixi integration builds on how marimo’s sandbox mode turns a notebook’s requirements into a running environment.

Consider a Python program that uses Polars.

import polars as pl
 
pl.DataFrame({
    "city": ["London", "Paris", "Berlin"],
    "temperature": [18, 22, 20],
})

This program depends on Polars, which must be installed in the Python environment running it. Otherwise, the import raises a `ModuleNotFoundError`.

Tools like uv and Pixi automate the setup. Instead of writing out a sequence of setup commands, you provide a manifest: a file listing the program’s dependencies and Python version requirements. The tool reads that file, prepares an environment, and runs the program inside it.

Projects and standalone scripts

For a projectcontaining related scripts and modules, it is common to keep the manifest in a separate file, such as pyproject.toml. Package managers use that manifest to prepare an environment those programs share.

Both scripts share one environment.

For a standalone script, the Python file itself can serve as the manifest. PEP 723 defines a comment format for recording requirements alongside the code, allowing a package manager to prepare an environment only for that script.

Each script has its own environment.

We can give our Polars example its own manifest by adding a comment at the top of the file.

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["polars>=1,<2"]
///
 
import polars as pl
 
pl.DataFrame({
    "city": ["London", "Paris", "Berlin"],
    "temperature": [18, 22, 20],
})

With the requirements recorded alongside the code, the script can be shared as a single file. uv or Pixi can prepare its environment and run it without separate setup instructions.

Sandbox mode in marimo

Every marimo notebook is a Python script, so the same two approaches apply. A notebook can share a project’s environment or record its own requirements inline.

Sandbox modebuilds on package managers’ script support to manage the notebook’s environment from those inline requirements.

As you develop the notebook, you can install or remove packages through the Packages panel, or accept marimo’s prompt to install a missing dependencywhen an import fails.

marimo records those changes in the notebook’s inline metadataand synchronizes the running environment.

notebook.py

Script metadata

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["marimo", "polars>=1,<2"]
///

import polars as pl
 
pl.DataFrame({
    "city": ["London", "Paris", "Berlin"],
    "temperature": [18, 22, 20],
})

With the requirements saved in the notebook, you or a collaborator can reopen it in a sandbox with

uvx marimo edit --sandbox notebook.py

Or run it as a script with

uv run notebook.py

What can you put in a Pixi sandbox?

Python packages are often only part of what a notebook needs to run. As a cross-language package manager, Pixi can draw on the Conda ecosystem to bring the rest of those dependencies into the same environment. Here are a few examples of what that makes possible:

Command-line tools

Declare ffmpeg as a Conda dependency, and Pixi makes FFmpeg available to call from Python:

pixi\_ffmpeg.py

Script metadata

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["marimo>=0.25.0"]
#
[tool.pixi.workspace]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
#
[tool.pixi.dependencies]
ffmpeg = "*"
///

import subprocess
 
output = subprocess.check_output(["ffmpeg", "-version"], text=True)
output.splitlines()[0]

ffmpeg version 9.0.2 Copyright (c) 2000-2026 the FFmpeg developers

CUDA-enabled PyTorch

Declaring pytorch-gpu guarantees a CUDA-enabled build of PyTorch, with no extra indexes to configure. This cell checks that the installed build has CUDA support:

pixi\_pytorch.py

Script metadata

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["marimo>=0.25.0"]
#
[tool.pixi.workspace]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
#
[tool.pixi.dependencies]
pytorch-gpu = "*"
///

import torch
 
torch.backends.cuda.is_built()

True

Other language runtimes

The Python package rpy2needs an R installation to call R functions. Pixi provides the runtime alongside the Python package:

pixi\_r.py

Script metadata

# /// script
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["marimo", "rpy2"]
#
[tool.pixi.workspace]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
#
[tool.pixi.dependencies]
r-base = "*"
///

import rpy2.robjects as ro
 
summary = ro.r("summary(iris$Sepal.Length)")
dict(zip(summary.names, summary))

{
    "Min.": 4.3,
    "1st Qu.": 5.1,
    "Median": 5.8,
    "Mean": 5.843333333333334,
    "3rd Qu.": 6.4,
    "Max.": 7.9,
}

With Pixi support, we can declare both PyPI requirements (marimo and rpy2)and Conda requirements (r-base)in the notebook. Opening the notebook in a Pixi sandbox installs both into one environment.

Combining PyPI and Conda packages in one notebook opens up interactive analyses that span languages and tools. For example, moving a slider can filter a table in Rand update marimo’s dataframe viewer:

Try it out yourself:

pixi exec marimo edit --sandbox=pixi https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marimo-team/marimo/refs/heads/main/examples/misc/pixi_r.py

Bringing Pixi to sandbox mode

marimo’s sandbox mode was originally built around uv, whose speed and early support for PEP 723 made per-notebook environments practical. Seeing how sandboxing made notebooks easier to author, share, and run, we wanted to bring the same experience to users from the scientific computing community who rely on Pixi for dependencies beyond Python.

Over the past two SciPy conferences (and a jigsaw puzzle), we got to know the Pixi developers and began discussing how to bring Pixi’s capabilities to standalone Python scripts. We advocated for building on PEP 723, keeping Python requirements in the standard fields and adding Pixi-specific configuration under `tool.pixi`. Together, we landed support upstream for running scripts, managing their dependencies, and locking their environments.

With Pixi’s script support in place, we could rework marimo’s sandbox implementation around a common model for both backends. Previously, starting a sandbox and changing its packages followed separate paths, which could let the running environment diverge from the notebook’s recorded requirements.

Both operations now use the notebook’s manifest and the selected package manager’s script commands to prepare and synchronize its environment. Those commands respect tool-specific configurationsuch as package indexes and sources, improving correctness for existing uv sandboxes as well as enabling Pixi.

The package manager uses the same notebook metadata to prepare the environment whether you work interactively in marimo or run the file as a script.

A new sandbox experience

Revisiting sandboxing also let us improve setup and error recovery for both Pixi and uv. The editor now opens while the environment is prepared, and the Packages panel shows progress and errors.

Edit manifest lets you change the notebook’s requirements and package manager settings directly. If setup fails, you can fix the manifest and retry without restarting marimo. The panel also tells you when a dependency change needs a kernel restart.

Try Pixi sandboxes

Try one of the notebooks above, or add a Pixi sandbox to your own notebook. Pixi support is available in marimo 0.25.0 and later.

On a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the Pixi team and working with them on this feature. The opportunity to build bridges between open-source projects is a big part of what brought me to marimo, and I feel fortunate to have found work that keeps me connected to these communities.

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